March 8, 2014

Before we look at these verses, let me ask a question: what is the purpose of food? Is it given to enjoy or to impart life? It is a necessity. Without it we waste away literally and wither and die. Now listen to Jesus:

John 4:31-34 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”

To Jesus, doing God’s will and being in subjection to it completely was his life’s necessity. It gave him life so to speak. It was his life! That’s why he was willing to go to the cross and bear the wrath of God, not just the nails.

So when we read the scriptures or are instructed in what they say, and you are tempted to rebel against what God has revealed or commanded in them, ask yourself, is obedience and submission to God’s will your very “food of life”? If it’s not, why not?

This isn’t something we can do. People can’t do this on their own power, only through grace. When we are “saved” we are Justified through grace. I think all evangelicals understand this fairly well and can quote Ephesians 2:8-9. But then we want to go on the performance treadmill and sanctify ourselves by our own hand instead of what the bible says, which is to be sanctified by grace as well through the working of the Spirit of Christ. The miracle of grace and mercy is a wonderful thing because it is totally alien to us. We can’t merit sanctification anymore than justification. It must be a work done in us, from outside of us.

Pray that God would sanctify you so that the Spirit of Jesus (total obedience and submission) would be evident and powerful in your life. And if someone asks you why you do what you do or why you are such a submissive spirit, answer: because God had mercy on me.